The Dodgers are headed back to October for a 14th straight year, tying the longest postseason streak in Major League Baseball history.

Los Angeles clinched a playoff berth Monday, Sept. 14, with a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. The victory matched the record set by the Atlanta Braves, who reached the postseason every year from 1991 through 2005.

The defending back-to-back World Series champions improved to 91-59 with 12 games left in the regular season. Their magic number to clinch the National League West dropped to three.

"It's hard to say it ever feels routine, but it is the expectation here," third baseman Max Muncy said after the game, according to ABC News.

Players shared a quiet toast of bubbly in the clubhouse, ABC News reported. Manager Dave Roberts told the team the bigger celebrations would come later.

Skubal fans nine in clinch start

Tarik Skubal, the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner acquired from the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 2, delivered seven shutout innings. He allowed three hits and one walk, struck out nine and generated 14 whiffs on just 90 pitches. Skubal is 3-2 with a 2.52 ERA in eight starts since joining Los Angeles, according to Fox Sports.

Kyle Tucker, who signed a record $60-million-per-year deal in the offseason, opened the scoring with a solo homer in the second inning. It was his third home run in five games. Teoscar Hernández added a two-run shot in the fourth, and Kiké Hernández drove in a run with a seventh-inning single.

The Reds' lone run came on a 457-foot blast by Elly De La Cruz off closer Evan Phillips in the ninth.

Eyes on a three-peat

The Dodgers became the third team to secure a 2026 playoff spot, after Milwaukee and Tampa Bay. They clinched in their 150th game, earlier than in 2025 (game 155) or 2024 (game 153), according to The Athletic.

The franchise has won three World Series titles during the 14-year run, in 2020, 2024 and 2025. The 1991-2005 Braves won one, in 1995. Los Angeles is chasing a feat no National League team has accomplished: three consecutive championships. The last club to do it was the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.

Several key players are dealing with injuries heading into the postseason. Shohei Ohtani is on the 15-day injured list with right biceps inflammation and will not pitch again this season. Freddie Freeman sat out Monday for the third time in five games while managing right knee tendinitis.

Andy Pages is working through a swing progression as he recovers from a fractured left hand. Reliever Edgardo Henriquez landed on the injured list Monday with lower-back discomfort, though Roberts said the team remains hopeful he can return for the playoffs.

Roberts also suggested closer Edwin Díaz, who is struggling in a minor league rehab assignment, could be left off the postseason roster.

Thirteen of the Dodgers' 14 postseason trips in the streak have come by winning the NL West. The division title could come within days, with the magic number at three and 12 games to play.